Matter that collapses into a black hole leaves a trail of quantum hairs.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Researchers may have solved the black hole paradox Stephen Hawking the famous. This mystery has puzzled scientists for nearly half a century. According to two new studies, something called “quantum hair” is the answer to the mystery
In the first paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the researchers suggest black holes are more complex than previously thought. In addition, black holes have gravitational fields that store information about how they formed.
They say matter collapsing into a black hole leaves a mark on its gravitational field, a trail of what they call “quantum hair.” Later in a follow-up paper published in a separate journal, Physics Letters B, Xavier Calmet dari University of Sussex’s School of Mathematical and Physical Science dan Stephen Hsu dari Michigan State University mengatakan quantum hair solve the Hawking black hole information paradox.
In 1976, Hawking suggested that when black holes evaporate, they destroy information about what formed them. This idea contradicts the basic law of quantum mechanics which states that every process in physics can be mathematically reversed.
In the 1960s, Physicist John Archibald Wheeler discussed the lack of observable features of black holes beyond their total mass, spin, and charge. This creates the phrase black hole has no hair known as the hairless theorem.
However, the newly discovered “quantum hair” provides a way to store information when a black hole collapses. The find solves one of modern science’s most famous mysteries.
“Black holes have long been considered the perfect laboratory for studying how to combine Einstein’s general theory of relativity with quantum mechanics. It is generally assumed in the scientific community that resolving this paradox will require a major paradigm shift in physics, forcing a potential reformulation of either quantum mechanics or general relativity,” Calmet said.
Meanwhile, Professor of Theoretical Physics Roberto Casadio from the University of Bologna said an important aspect is that black holes are formed by the collapse of solid objects. Then, according to quantum theory, there is no absolute separation between the inside and the outside of a black hole.
Reported SCMP, Friday (18/3), in classical theory, the horizon acts as a perfect one-way membrane that doesn’t let anything out. Therefore, the exterior is the same for all black holes of a given mass and this is a classic hairless theorem.
“However, in quantum theory, the state of matter that collapses and forms a black hole continues to affect the outer state. Although in a way that fits the current experimental limits, these are what are known as ‘quantum hairs,’” he said.
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